June 18, 2009

The Right Place At The Right Time:

A Model Moment At Barneys

All weather reports suggested that The Shophound should have stayed inside today, but instead we decided that it was as good a day as any to hit the Metropolitan Museum's Costume Institute exhibit "The Model As Muse" (more on that later). Afterward, we took advantage of a lull in the storm to saunter down Madison Avenue, and found ourselves ducking into Barneys to dodge an impending downpour. We could never have known that we would stumble onto a better Model Moment than anything the Met had to offer: Catherine McNeil in a black Lanvin cocktail dress and feathered headpiece, holding a small falcon and being photographed by none other than Terry Richardson.It's not unusual to find location shoots all around the city, but we usually don't happen upon them on the main floor of Barneys on a Thursday afternoon.Naturally, we watched the entire slightly surreal event as the willowy McNeil gamely posed with her bird, unfazed by the growing crowd of onlookers whilst occasionally being adjusted by various stylists and bird wranglers. The budding supermodel demonstrated the significance of her craft far better than a museum exhibition ever could. The whole thing ended with the kind of climactic "Yes! Yes! Gorgeous!" bellowing coming from Richardson that we thought only happened on TV show photo shoots.Thanks to modern technology, the various onlookers took their own pictures, discreetly at first, and then blatantly like... well, like us.Now that's worth venturing out in the rain for, no?